This was VERY good advice. I went ahead and dug back down a bit and pulled the intake manifold so that I could replace the pigtail connecting the knock sensor to the wiring harness. By tearing apart the old pigtail, I could determine how to reinsert the leads into the connector on the wiring harness side. After confirming they were getting a good connection with a multi-tester, I epoxied the wires in place inside the connector. This pretty much resolved the issue with the damaged connector, replacments for which are not available (one would have to purchase a new wiring harness).
The interesting thing was with regard to the old pigtail: the thing had deteriorated to the point that there was virtually no way it could have been working properly. As soon as I tried to pull some of the electrical tape off of it, it broke in half and I could hardly distinguish the shielding from the insulation of the signal lead because the shielding was oxidized so badly.
It was absolutely the right thing to do to go back in and replace this wiring. Not only am I sure that I will now have a proper and secure connection to this sensor, but now it may actually get a decent signal back to the ECU!
Thanks a ton for advising me to bite the bullet and change this item out. Best $10 and hour or two of labor that I ever spent. (BTW, I checked the price on the knock sensor and I will definitely be taking your advice to stick with the one I have).
Luther